There is no past. There is no future. Everything we think has happened or will happen is now in this moment existing only as a thought. The present is all there is and it is infinite; it is eternal. I have become conscious of this and so can you.
I’ve contemplated many hours on the subject of time. It is incredibly difficult to talk about because like many other topics in spirituality, words are inadequate. They simply cannot substitute for the vehicle of experience. That said, I keep coming back to it. I suppose each new insight I have on the nature of time reshapes my understanding and perception of it. A couple of years ago I watched a video of Bentinho Massaro describing the nature of time. I am not advocating for or against his teachings, but something clicked for me while watching this. Following that, I experienced a waking dream in which the creation of time was illustrated perfectly. Since then, a more robust understanding has come together more and more through the practice of meditation and other forms of yoga. In this moment, I feel confident that I understand the nature of time enough to describe it with language.
The ego constructs the concept of time as a means to perpetuate its own existence. The past is an account of who the ego believes itself to be, while the future is a promise of what the ego can become. As we identify with the thoughts called memories we reinforce the belief of who we think we are. Conversely, by placing stipulations on our happiness it becomes attainable at a future date. In our culture, retirement is a great example of this. “If I work this job for another fifteen years, I can retire. Then I’m going to travel, move to my dream city, and dive into my art.”
Modern quantum mechanics is at the cusp of the way in which we construct time. However, due to the religion that is science, a scientist cannot comprehend this until they step outside the paradigm of science. For example: a fish does not understand that it lives in water. Only when it crawls onto land as an amphibian can it begin to comprehend water. Scientists are rational material reductionists, so they are always looking for the building blocks and constants in reality so as to be able to predict and explain reality. Of course, this is akin to a fish trying to describe water to another fish.
The basics of quantum mechanics begin with the double slit experiment in 1801. Without going into too much detail, this experiment illustrated that light is both a particle and a wave function. Light is a particle, or photon, only when its measured. Prior to being measured, it is a wave function, or potential. What this means is that particles, the presumed building blocks of reality, aren’t actually particles like science had previously posited. This experiment laid the groundwork towards proving that reality has no solid form until a measurement is taken. A measurement implies an observer. If something is observed, essentially it is being measured. Going full circle, reality does not take shape or form unless there is a conscious being observing it. That being also has an effect on how reality takes shape. For example: an electron doesn’t have a fixed position around an atom. Instead there is an electron cloud. The electron(s) can be anywhere in the cloud, or area of possibility. Only when the electron(s) is measured through an instrument does it take a position. The double slit experiment turned Newtonian physics on its head because it drastically recontextualized what scientists thought they knew. The experiment is widely accepted across all science, such that is has become a law, but rather than producing clarity among scientists, it has instead muddied the water so-to-speak. Scientists agree in the results of the experiment, but as previously stated, cannot comprehend the implications. As such, modern day physics has yet to bridge the gap between Newtonian physics and quantum mechanics.
How does this relate to time? There is a mega jump coming so hold tight. Following, I will use the word Consciousness with a capital “C” to represent the infinite and eternal awareness that is inherently the source of all that is manifested as well as the unmanifest. Consciousness is essentially, God, Allah, Shiva, Truth, or any other term one wants to use. I refrain from these labels because of the connotation each carries, inevitably coloring the word to a shade other than intended. Of course, the term Consciousness is not immune to this problem, but I assume it less likely. An interesting side note: Shiva, the central deity in Hindu culture, means, “that which is not.” Hindus understand that the source of everything is nothing. The universe is born of nothing and as such returns to whence it came.
Every conscious being is manifested by Consciousness. Think of beings as Consciousness splitting itself into an infinite number of perspectives so that it can experience itself through every possibility. To put it more succinctly, imagine a black sphere with a light placed inside. Now picture the black sphere covered with tiny pin pricks such that the light from inside shines outward. The light inside is Consciousness and the holes through which it shines are beings. In this way, beings manifest their own reality through the act of perception because as we already discussed reality isn’t concrete; it is pure, infinite potential. A being perceives what it chooses to create based on its perspective. This creation is done continuously and each created and perceived moment is strung together to create a seemingly fluid experience and the illusion of the passage of time. For example: some cameras can shoot thousands of frames per second. Each frame is separate and unique from all other frames, but when you string them together in a sequence, motion appears to happen. It’s like those stick figure drawings on the bottom corner of pages in a book. As you flip the pages quickly, the figure appears to move and a story unfolds. Consciousness is manifesting a unique experience every single moment. It is done so quickly that normal conscious attention doesn’t perceive it. Think of a strobe light. Under its effects, each movement is highlighted and registers with the brain such that the experience isn’t smooth. That effect is exactly what Consciousness is doing. The brain smooths the effect by linking the experiences for the purpose of creating the illusion of a fluid experience. Everything that appears to happen is happening in the eternal present. Each moment perceived is created anew.
Thoughts about the past and future work the same way. The supposed past is really just a collection of thoughts. If you think that you were born it’s because you believe it and thus manifest that thought. This ties into my previous post, Belief. Ideas about the future are just thoughts or musings projected to a moment we deem more suitable. For example: science is a belief system that thinks its uncovering truths about the universe, but actually its creating it and the idea of a future. Similarly, historians believe they are uncovering truths about our past, but in actuality, they are creating beliefs about our past. This is done collectively throughout humanity. We all lend energy in the form of belief to these things, thus they are manifested. All experiences and or perceptions happen in the present moment. Direct experience is all there is. A thought is simply a thought in the present moment. It does not mean anything or imply anything other than being merely a thought. What you did five minutes ago is a thought. It isn’t real. It doesn’t exist. For the sake of driving the point home, yes, five minutes ago, you manifested an experience. Understand though that minutes are a concept created by humans to measure the perceived change of experiences. There is no such thing as minutes. Consciousness doesn’t operate in time because time is a human construct used for the purpose of communicating with other humans.
As previously stated, everything we think we know is really based on belief. Time is no exception. Any topic I write about on this blog is inextricably linked to everything else in some way. To digest what I have written requires an open mind and the willingness to question one’s beliefs. I encourage everyone to explore this explanation of time, and of course don’t blindly believe me. Become conscious of it yourself.